Wolf and the Liger
by Chrystyaane
Summary: Merrick is blasted to the other side of the country and meets someone who is only a little younger than him and Shayla. What happens when that person joins the fight, new powers are found, and Love is tested? Slight yaoi and Shayla has a new boyfriend!
1. Chapter 1

**The Wolf and the Liger**

Chapter One

The Rangers only knew that destroying the mask would end the curse. What they never expected was that Merrick would be blasted to another state. While they looked around the battle site, and Princess Shayla through the sacred pool, he was lying unconsious in a woods far from Turtle Cove.

A young girl, about 15 found him. She was surprised to find someone in those woods. Very few people even went near the edge of them. She was the only one brave-or dumb enough it was whispered-enough to even go into the woods. She tried to tell them that the only thing dangerous in there was the imagination. They never believed her. Some almost did becuase she was able to make herbal remedies for almost any illness or ailment. The animals trusted her too. They would show her where their dens and nests were should she-or they-need help.

So she was naturally curious to find out who this stranger was, why he was there, where he came from, and why he was dressed so strange. With the help of the black Lab, Coal, she managed to get him to where she lived. She checked him over to see if he had any injuries, but he had none. Wetting a cloth with some watered mint and raspberry she waited for him to waken. When he did she was busy tending the injured leg of a wolf that had been caught in a trap. When she was done and turned around she saw him looking around, taking in all the dried herbs tied to the ceiling, and baskets of more drying out.

"You're awake," she said, catching his attention. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine. Where am I?"

Tilting her head curiously, she asked, "If you do not know where you are, then how did you come to be in the forest where I found you?"

"I was fighting. They had been told how to destroy a curse I have lived with for a long time. I must have been knocked out by the force of the blast. That's the last thing I remember."

"Well, you're in Adrian, Mi. Where were you when the fight happened?"

"Turtle Cove...California I think."

"The blast must have had some other effect becase you're on the other side of the continent. My name's Lya."

"Merrick. Do you live here by yourself?"

"Some times the others come to check on me. Not often though, because they're afraid of the forest. Why are you dressed that way?"  
"This is how I was dressed before becoming the monster I was. Until the Rangers destroyed him."

"You were that wolf-man that was trying to destroy Turtle Cove?"

He looked surprised and a little nervous. "From a point of view."

Her face softened as she sat next to him. "My grandmother was the same way. Only she tried to destroy Angel Grove, not Turtle Cove. In the end, she found out that my mom was alive, and that she had three grandkids, not including me. She thought all of us had died when an evil man named Imperious cursed my father. He was known as the guardian of valor, honor, and justice. It didn't help any that our godfather, Daggeron, was thought to have been destroyed as well. In reality he was only cursed...as a frog. He's the Frog Prince now," she added giggling a little at the end.

He looked at her in a new light. "How long ago was this?"

"Two thousand years."

His eyes widened. "You're two thousand years old?"

"From a point of view," she said, taking his line. "Sorcerers age slowly, and when they reach adulthood they stop. So physically I'm 15, but philisophically I'm 2,015. How old are you?"

"Over three thousand years old."  
"Now I remember! You were one of the guardians of Animaria. You were to specifically protect Princess Shayla. Your main Wild Zord is the wolf. Along with the hammeread and alligator. Mom used to always tell me that story. Me and my..." she trailed off, looking away.

Not wanting to disturb her, Merrick, waited until she shook herself awake. "Anyway. Do you need a place to stay until you can find a way to Turtle Cove?"

"If you know a place."

"Would here do? The people here are nice, but they don't really welcome strangers into their homes."

"Would you be bothered?"

"Are you kidding? I have at least 10 different wolf packs that leave their pups here when they go hunting. I can use some help."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

It wasn't until a few weeks later that Lya brought up the question of Merrick's leaving.

"Have you found a way back yet?" she asked as she was cutting some food for supper.

He looked up startled. He had almost forgotten about trying to find a way to Turtle Cove. After he'd agreed to stay, things had fallen into a type of routine. A rather pleasant one. "No."

"I was wondering because...I think I'll go with you."

"Why? What about the forest here?"

"They hired an outside contractor. They sold the forest. All the animals are already leaving. The wolves have already gone on to their hunting grounds so I don't really have to worry about them. I won't have a reason to stay."

"I'll appreciate a friendly face."

She turned to him. "So you don't have frends there?"

"They died during the battle of Animaria."

"I forgot. So, we should leave w/in the next 2-3 days. No one's going to want this place...but it does hold a lot of memories. I think I'll send it to mom; that way I won't worry about it."

Wth that decided they started talking about what they should bring. The dried herbs, what ever fresh ones they could find, her books, the knick-knacks that she had lying around, that had some property or other, the medical things, etc. The next day they started packing. Everyone must have wondered what was going on, but it must have been said that she was leaving, because many of them went to say good-bye, bringing small gifts to thank her for the years of help she had done with her herbs.

Finally the day to leave came. Muttering under her breath, Lya jerked her hands in the direction of the house and it vanished. She focused for a moment then sighed. "Delivered. Let's go, Coal, Merrick."

With that she took Merrick's hand and Coal's collar and they too, vanished.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

When they opened their eyes, they saw that they were indeed in Turtle Cove. More specifically in front of a place called 'Willie's Bar'.

"We might as well see if they have anything to eat," Lya said.

"I agree."

"Stay, Coal." The Lab obediantly laid down.

Going in, Merrick stopped next to the billards table as Lya went up to the counter to talk to the man there. "Hi. Do you serve breakfast here?"

"Yeah, I have a special. Oh, boy, here's trouble," Willie said as he looked at the door. A bunch of bikers were about to come in when Coal jumped up, snarling. They yelled out, as Coal came close to biting their legs.

"That's one protective dog. He yours?"

", he was found in the woods where I'm from and no one claimed him so I figured he must be a stray. I don't force animals to live with me, I give them a choice. If they ever change their mind and run away, I won't chase them unless they were wounded when I found them. He was just underfed...and had a slight fever. He just follows me around."

"Well, I could use a dog like him. If you need work and a pace to stay, I have a couple rooms," he offered.

"What do you think Merrick?" she asked, as he chewed a mouthful of food.

After swallowing he said, "Sure...They just hit Coal with that bar."

Her eyes widened as her head whipped around her short hair hitting his ear. "Coal..."she whispered. Jumping out of her chair they had no chance to stop her as she launched herself out the door and blocked the kick that was aimed for the downed dog's head. "Leave my dog alone," she hissed.

"So you're his owner. Maybe give us a little payback and we'll forget about it," one of them said in a voice that left no room for questions of his meaning.

"How about you just get on those bikes and leave," she said, her eyes narrowing at the suggestion.

"Well, if that's how you're going to be about it." The guy who had been speaking reached out, but grabbed air as Lya ducked and kicked him under the chin. Staggering back he tried to regain his footing, only to meet a powerful wallop from her fist. One of his friends tried to help him, but he was kicked where the sun don't shine. Those two down she turned to the others who, point taken, decided to leave and take their friends with them. Nodding slightly, she turned to where Coal was struggling to get up.

"Shhh, easy boy. Here let me help," she said, soothing him before picking him up. Going inside, Merrick had gone to boil some water, and there was a couple of rags that Willie had set out. "Thanks. Merrick, get my bag, please."

When her bag was provided, she took out one of the many packages of dried herbs and crushed a handful of them over the water. Soaking one of the rags in it, she gently rubbed it into the dog's head with practiced ease. "That was brave and foolish Coal. There's a time when you fight and a time when you let them pass. That was one of those times."

She noticed that Merrick stiffened and looked out the window as a slight breeze blew throuh the window. "I need to find a pet store. He's going to need a leash and a collar. Want to come Merrick?"

"Sure." After making sure that Coal wouldn't move or be bothered they set off. "What is it?"

"The wind tells me when there's danger. The Rangers are fighting an Org in the city."  
"Let's go."  
"What? You can't come. You'll get hurt."

"I've been in a war before Merrick. That's when I lost almost everyone. And there's a secret that have to tell someone and it might as well be a team of Rangers. Come on."

Having no choice but to follow he ran after her to the site of the battle. Taking something from her pocket, she held it to the sky and said, "Moon Power!" In a bright flash of light, she was revealed to have armor on that looked almost exactly like the Rangers'.

"You're a Ranger?"

"I was until last year. My power comes from the moon so I don't have to worry about that. I just don't like using it that often. This would be an example of when to fight though," she said indicating the fact that the Rangers were being beaten by Mantra Org. "Let's see what I can do to help."

Saying that, she charged forward and struck Mantra Org square in the back, knocking him head over heels for several yards.

"Who are you?" the yellow Ranger asked.

"I'm the Moon Ranger. The oldest Ranger ever. I felt that people were in danger so I came to help," she said.

"Well, can't say I'm sorry to hear that," the red Ranger said as he struggled to get up. "We could use that help."

"Just leave it to me. Moon Saber Slash!" she said as she swung her staff and an arch of silver energy slammed into the Org, destroying him.

Toxica was about to bring him back using her staff, but Lya countered, blasting it out of her hands and into the jaws of a wolf. "Give me my staff back!" she screeched.

"Nope. This never rightfully belonged to you. I'll just send it through time back to it's rightful owner."

"No one can do that."

"I'm not like everyone else in more ways than one. Good-bye," she said as she swung her staff again and Toxica was blasted into a pile of cardboard boxes. She stumbled out and ran away.

"It seems that all flunkies are the same. They always end up running away. You guys okay?"

"Yeah. We'd probably be off worse if you hadn't shown up."  
"You'd have to thank Merrick for that. You're lucky that the wind tells him when there's trouble or I'd still be taking care of my dog."

"Merrick? As in someone who was wearing strange white robes and a helmet?"

"You know him?"

"They're the ones who freed me from Zen-aku's control," he said as he walked up, his hand closed over something. Going up to the blue ranger he opened his hand to reveal four crystals with animals inside. He chose the one with the giraffe. Moving on, the white ranger chose the one with the elephant in it, leaving the yellow ranger to take the other two. He stepped back as Lya demorphed, looking at him curiously.

"You're just a kid!"

"I'm actually older that you. Merrick's the only one here who's older than me. By a thousand years."

"You're two thousand years old?"

"Yep."

They looked at her with what must have been shocked expressions before they demorphed themselves. "Either way, thanks again for helping us. I'm Cole."

"Evans?"

"How do you know that?"

"I met your parents once. I was actually one of the last ones to see them before...never mind."

"Before they died."

"Yeah. Do you know how?"

"Accident in the jungle."

"That's true from a certain point of view. It really started before then. Your parents were trying to prove that Animaria did exist. There were three of them. The other, he fell in love with your mother. The day he decided to ask her to marry him, she told him that Richard, your dad, had propsed. She obviously said yes. It made him bitter. It got worse when she became pregnant with you. Then came the expedition to the jungle. That day they had found the remains of Master Org. He had gathered a few of the seedlings left to examine, but the way you were loved so much by your parents was too much and he ate them...He became the human version of Master Org, with all his powers. He destroyed the camp and I was called there by a necklace that always let me know when your mother was in danger. I saw what happened, yet was powerless to do anything but get you out of there and to the safety of the village. I told them whne you were old enough that you would have to return and finish what your parents had started. And I meant the fact that Animaria dd exist and that you had to protect it. I knew even then that you'd become blazing lion."

"You're the one who lef the crystal?"

"Actually, your mother told me to keep it safe and to giveit to whoever raised you...it was a promise made before the expedition, liekshe knew what was going to happen before it happened. We should go. Coal's probably about to tyr and find me by now. Later."

"Merrick, where are you going?"

"I go where the wind takes me. She's a friend that understands what it means to lose your home, and be one of the only survivors. I live with her now."


End file.
